WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) issued the following statement in recognition of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month:
 
“The unimaginable horrors men, women, and children face under the scourge of human trafficking are a stain on our humanity. Tragically, the human trafficking crisis has surged under the Biden-Harris administration due to the open-borders and anti-enforcement policies over the past four years. During National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to ending the historic border crisis that has enabled transnational criminal organizations to exploit innocent people during their journey to our borders and has allowed countless more to be trafficked once in the interior. These grim realities are heartbreaking, but I am hopeful for change. Once in office, the Trump-Vance administration will empower DHS to end cartel control of the Southwest border, restore enforcement of our laws, and protect the most vulnerable among us from exploitation and abuse.” 
 
Background:
 
In November 2024, the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement and the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability received testimony in a joint hearing from a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whistleblower, an anti-human trafficking expert, and a retired Border Patrol agent on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) processes for handling unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who cross the Southwest border has led to an increasing number of missing and exploited children in the United States. 
 
This hearing followed an August 2024 report by the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), which found that since Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, more than 291,000 UACs were not given Notices to Appear (NTA) in court. Of those 291,000, more than 90,000 were encountered in FY 2021 alone. Additionally, more than 32,000 minors who did receive NTAs failed to appear for their immigration hearing. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered more than 500,000 UACs at the Southwest border, compared to around 221,000 from FY 2017-2020. 
 
In October 2023, the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement and the Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology held a joint hearing to examine how the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies have empowered cartels in Mexico to expand lucrative human trafficking and smuggling operations across our porous Southwest border.
 
This hearing followed the release of the Committee’s Phase Three Interim Report on the devastating human cost of the border crisis as a part of the investigation into DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which ultimately led to his historic impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives. 
 

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